CNN Central News & Network-ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: A special lecture was organised at Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication to mark the birth anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. Gandhian thinker and former Income Tax Commissioner Dr. Rakesh Kumar Paliwal addressed the programme as the keynote speaker.
Addressing the gathering, Dr. Paliwal said former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri can be seen as a true statesman who carried forward Mahatma Gandhi’s political legacy. He said qualities such as simplicity, devotion to duty, morality and honesty came to Shastri through Gandhi’s thoughts and association.
On the occasion, Dr. Paliwal expressed concern that after Independence, Bapu’s ideas were forgotten to a large extent. He said many leaders of that time disagreed with Gandhi’s views on village development. “Today, when we see the poor condition of villages, many people are responsible for it. Had Gandhi lived for 10 more years after Independence, the picture of Indian villages would have been completely different,” he said.
He further said Gandhi was the only leader who had understood India and its grassroots challenges from the closest quarters. When Gandhi asked his political mentor Gopal Krishna Gokhale where he should begin serving India, Gokhale advised him to travel across the country for one year to first understand it. After this nationwide journey, Gandhi gave the historic conclusion that the soul of India lives in its villages.
Dr. Paliwal said that during his travels, Gandhi found that till then neither the Congress had influence in rural areas nor did people know the big leaders. Gandhi realised that without the participation of common people and villagers, freedom could neither be achieved nor sustained. Thereafter, Gandhi took the freedom movement to every village and every ordinary citizen, enabling it to become a broad mass movement. The Congress, with which only people from big cities were associated till 1915, saw large numbers of common people joining it in 1917.
Sharing Gandhi’s perspective on freedom, Dr. Paliwal said that at the time of Independence, Gandhi believed that India had received only “one-fourth” freedom; the remaining freedom had to be obtained from its own governments, including social, economic and religious freedom.
Dr. Paliwal also said Mahatma Gandhi’s secularism was far broader and deeper than the Western definition. He said Gandhi was a deeply spiritual person who firmly followed his own faith while respecting all religions equally.
Vice-Chancellor Vijay Manohar Tiwari also expressed his views on the occasion. The programme was conducted by Assistant Professor Dr. Gajendra Singh Awasya, and the vote of thanks was proposed by Dr. Lokendra Singh Rajput.
Hashtags: #MadhyaPradesh #Bhopal #MakhanlalUniversity #GandhiShastriJayanti #MahatmaGandhi #LalBahadurShastri #DrRakeshKumarPaliwal #MakhanlalUniversityGandhiShastri #MadhyaPradeshState #Desksource
